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Shōyō Hinata
is the main protagonist of the Haikyū!! series by Haruichi Furudate. He is a first year student at Karasuno High and is one of the volleyball team's middle blockers. Hinata's dream is to become strong enough to spike past tall blockers, just like his idol, the Small Giant once did. However, since he lacks height to play middle blocker effectively, he specializes in jumping to compensate. Appearance Hinata is 164.2 cm, making him the second shortest person on his team, next to Nishinoya (although this height is typically average for a male Japanese High School student and is also seen in grown men). He has unruly, orange hair and brown eyes. He has a relatively thin build and a short stature, characteristics which often leads him to be mistaken for a junior high student. Hinata typically attires in his Karasuno school uniform with a black jacket and black pants. Beneath his jacket is a beige or tan sweatshirt. In the first episode, he wore the green volleyball uniform from his junior high. After joining Karasuno's Volleyball Club, Hinata wears his volleyball uniform–a navy blue jersey and corresponding shorts with white and orange stripes on the sides. On the back of his jersey is his position number 10 (coincidentally, the same number that was worn by the Small Giant) and his school's name written in kanji. On court, he wears kneepads and white volleyball shoes with red stripes. Personality Hinata is very exuberant, having a cheerful and energetic personality. He is a natural schmoozer, a quality that his teammates occasionally use to win someone over (Nishinoya, for example). Hinata is also very easily excited and often talks loudly; he is the loudest member after Nishinoya and Tanaka. His friendly personality allows him to befriend even the quietest of people effortlessly, such as Kenma from Nekoma High and Aone from Date Tech High. However, despite his generally bubbly exterior, Hinata is also shown to have a serious attitude, particularly when it comes to volleyball. His intense love for the sport is demonstrated through his impressive display of tenacity that stems from his constant desire to improve his abilities. As stated by Sugawara, Hinata plays with great fortitude in the face of adversity and thus, doesn't give up easily during a match whether it's a practice match or a real match. Hinata can also exhibit a very intimidating face when people underestimate him. Despite that, Hinata gets scared easily, especially by larger and stronger opponents, prompting him to develop a habit of hiding behind the nearest teammate. However, he recovers quickly before confidently challenging the opponents. Hinata, like Kageyama, does poorly in school since he too is preoccupied with volleyball. He once told Sugawara that ever since he'd entered high school, he has never scored in the double digits on any of his tests. Statistics Hinata is often described as clumsy, yet incredibly athletic. Before entering Karasuno High, he didn't know much about volleyball and would hit any spike he wanted, regardless of what type it was. However, with the help of his new teammates, he soon learned the fundamentals and techniques. Despite the training, Hinata would occasionally have his serves hit the net or have them received easily by opponents. He is not known as a powerful player, but rather one who utilizes speed and stamina to his advantage. However, above all, Hinata’s main assets are his fortitude and determination to win. Hinata's game sense truly is incredible, as said by Oikawa Toru as he was commentating the Shiratorizawa match with his friend and wing spikerIwaizumi Iwaizumi Hajime. Most of the characters in the show/manga do not credit Hinata for this. They are all aware of his abilities but his actual game sense is impeccable. He constantly tries to figure out what he, personally, can do to help a match. Hinata works well with everyone and he can easily use this matches when things don't go according to plan. Hinata often tries to learn from mistakes made in past matches, and can improve his skills merely by watching his opponents and teammates and trying to copy their movements (although most of the time he fails). Hinata is also one of the few players who possess the ability to see the entire width of the court. He has admitted that when he's spiking and he's over the net, he can see the movements his opponents make and even the expressions on their faces. Since the Tokyo Expedition Arc, Hinata’s overall skills have improved greatly. His agility was helped by the flying falls he did as punishment for his team’s losses and he now has better coordination on the court. Whenever he goes to save balls, he doesn't fly over and crash into the wall anymore; instead, he can change his footing and bounce off the wall or floor without much effort. He can also switch hand midway through a spike if the ball goes in the wrong direction. He also learned from the former Coach Ukai how to time himself with a toss and find different options if he receives a poor toss. In addition, he was taught several techniques by influential players in the camp and the former Coach Ukai, whom Hinata trained under as he was developing the new quick strike with Kageyama. In a mini-match against Lev, Tsukishima, and Kuroo, Hinata accidentally learned how to "block out" by himself when he spiked the ball off the tip of Lev’s fingers. It would also seem that Hinata is only able to block out against significantly taller players at the moment, evidenced by the three times he's performed it. He successfully blocked out against both Lev and Kaukgawa's Hyakuzawa, both of whom were well above Hinata in height (~30-40 cm). Against Wakutani's Nakashima however, Hinata hit the ball well over his head, with Nakashima being slightly taller than Hinata (~5-10 cm). However, he can only use that technique if he is able to accurately target the blockers' hands. In addition, he learned how to feint–a useful tactic for surprising blockers–from the Fukurōdani ace Bokuto. He even manages to utilize this against both Johzenji and Aobajōsai, something both teams didn't expect him to be able to do; Hinata even rendered Matsukawa's strategy of narrowing his spike course limit useless since the latter didn't expect him to be able to use that against him. Against Shiratorizawa, he also blocked with his cheeks rather than his whole face to avoid being hit right on the nose. As of mid-November: * Fingertip Height: 210 cm * Jumping Reach : 333 cm (spike) / 310 cm (no run up block) Stamina and Speed Hinata is known as the fastest player on his team and has incredible, seemingly unlimited stamina; he has stated that he built this by riding his bike thirty minutes through the mountain each morning to get to school. Hinata can easily go from the left side of the court to the right side before his opponents can even react. A problem with this, however is he could lose control and touch the net before he jumps given he carries too much momentum to control his body. Jumping Hinata is considered short for a middle blocker. Because of this, many of his opponents and his teammates are surprised that he can easily jump to impressive heights. During the summer training camp, he learned how to jump diagonally using tempo from the older Coach Ukai. His jumping ability is also described as flying according to certain bystanders. He can jump 3.33m vertically. His running jump also helped him block aggressively as if he is going for a counter spike, as evidenced against Wakatoshi Ushijima. Decoy Since Hinata isn’t tall, many opponents underestimate him initially. However, they’re soon drawn to him when he and Kageyama use their quick strikes to easily score points. This method brings all the attention to Hinata, leaving the other players somewhat unguarded. When the opposing blockers are completely focusing on the quick strikes, the other players of Karasuno would strike and easily score points. For his successful role in this, Hinata is dubbed the "Ultimate Decoy". God-Like Quick Combination Hinata and Kageyama are sometimes called the "freak duo" due to Kageyama's incredibly quick toss and Hinata's complete trust in the setter. Kageyama would send the toss to Hinata at an extremely fast speed and Hinata would spike it with his eyes closed. This combo has evolved into many different types of attacks. Since the Tokyo Expedition Arc, Kageyama has changed his toss to a drop motion. Hinata also learned how to spike using tempo from the former Coach Ukai. The toss used to go straight at the perfect timing for Hinata to hit but now, the ball would go above Hinata's reach and then drop down to meet his hand. This allows Hinata to aim with the quick instead of having to close his eyes, giving him more options. During the Aobajōsai vs Karasuno match in the Spring High, Hinata discovered a new attack after he accidentally jumped too close to the net and Kageyama had to set the ball to that area. The ball was almost on top of the net, and Hinata spiked it straight down into an area where the blockers and libero couldn't reach in time. However, they don't use this technique often and save it for crucial moments of the matches. Though Hinata originally despises being called a decoy at first, he later realizes how important his role is. Hinata also developed a minus-tempo quick attack as a weapon used against extremely tall opponents, such as Yūdai Hyakuzawa. Minus-Tempo Stopping Toss Spike The new version of the God-Like Quick Combo utilizes Kageyama's new stopping toss, Hinata's newly gained experience, and the same basic formation of the god-like quick. This version allows Hinata to have his eyes open during the god-like quick, making the aerial battle his to command. Kageyama first uses his stopping toss that halts for a moment right in the line of Hinata's spike, giving Hinata easy access to it and letting him decide what to do with it instead of simply hitting it straight down. This quick will most likely continuously evolve through the series as it has many different possibilities. Touch Spike An offset ability of Minus-Tempo Stopping Toss Spike of sorts, when Kageyama realizes that Hinata is too close to the net and had been blocked many times to spike with power against Aobajousai, Kageyama set the ball as close to the net as possible so Hinata can gently flick the ball over the netSeason 2, Episode 24. He also improved his body control to perform touch spike with his left hand even when his body was going right. Close Receive A variation of a soft block. Given his small stature as a middle blocker, he has to be able to block and receive similar to a libero would rather than over-relying on his speed, stamina and jumping ability, so in a blocking situation, he falls 2-4 feet behind the net to use the power of the spike against them wihle pushing the ball over the net. Trivia *Favorite Food: Tamago Kake Gohan. *Current Concern: He can't catch a ball one-handed. *His star sign is Gemini. *Before the final exam in the Tokyo Expedition Arc, Hinata has stated that he has never had a double-digit score on any of his quizzes at school. *Hinata's worst subject is English. His voice actor Murase Ayumu, however, was born in America (Los Angeles) and is able to speak English. *When Hinata feels scared or threatened, he instinctively hides behind the nearest person. * Hinata is the oldest first year on the team. * His birthday overlaps with the summer solstice (June 21st, the longest day and shortest night of the year) which contrasts Kageyama's birthday which occurs in the winter solstice (December 22nd, the longest night and shortest day of the year) respectively. *In the first popularity poll, Hinata was ranked 2nd, after Kageyama with 6,058 votes. In the second popularity poll, he was ranked 1st with 12,720. *In a poll conducted by Charapedia, a Japanese anime and manga character database that asked people which anime characters they would choose as the basis for their children's name, Hinata came in 8th with 104 votes among female respondentshttp://www.charapedia.jp/research/0076/3/. *In Haikyū!!: One Shot, Hinata's jersey number was 7, instead of 10. *In Haikyū!!: One Shot, Hinata was not a first year regular. Hinata and Kageyama had actually formed their "Oddball Combo" during a match against another school and not in a 3-on-3 against Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and Daichi. *In English media, Crunchyroll (anime) and VIZ Media (manga) have his name written as 'Hinata Shoyo'. *Hinata's name has the character for "sun" and Tsukishima's name has the character for "moon". This is a reference to the fact that they are rivals despite being on the same team. *Part of Hinata's first name and part of Kageyama's first name when combined will form the word "Hishō" (飛翔), which means "to soar" or "flight". *In regards to his name, Furudate wrote, "I gave him this name with the image of “sun” and “flying” in mind."Haikyū!! Guidebook *In regards to Hinata's character, Furudate states that Furudate is proud of the way Hinata turned out and claimed he was designed to have no similarities whatsoever with his creator. * Nomenclature ** Shōyō (翔陽) can be read as "flying heaven". *** However, "yō" also has different meanings: "sunshine, yang principle, positive, male, heaven, or daytime". *** His family name Hinata (日向) can be read as "place in the sun". References }} ja:日向 翔陽 Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Yukigaoka Junior High Volleyball Club Category:Karasuno High Volleyball Club Category:Middle Blockers Category:1st Year